FAMOUS for his “little grey cells”, Hercule Poirot is the fictional Belgian detective created by Agatha Christie in her debut novel. Now, 100 years on, he is being introduced to a new generation, in a very modern way - gaming.
Poirot?
Hercule Poirot first appeared in “The Mysterious Affair at Styles”, which was Christie's first published novel, released in the UK in January 1921 when the English author was 30.
He became a mainstay of her work?
Poirot went on to appear in 33 novels and more than 50 short stories, as well as in two plays, with Christie said to have found the character “insufferable" by 1930, before going on to say in later years that she found him “bombastic and tiresome”.
However?
Along with her other infamous detective, Miss Jane Marple, Hercule and his “little grey cells” - that helped him solve one mystery after another - were astonishingly successful and Christie told her agent in a letter that Poirot would not be retiring “while he is my chief source of income”.
Now?
He will meet a new demographic of admirers - gamers. A new title "Agatha Christie - Hercule Poirot: The First Cases" is to be made available on various gaming platforms, including the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation and Xbox, which have each sold in their multimillions.
How will the game work?
French video game developer Microids, in collaboration with Agatha Christie Limited, is behind the project, saying it is “a detective and adventure game starring a young Hercule Poirot in one of his first cases, before he became the legendary detective we all know and love”, adding: “Fans of the ‘Queen of Crime’s’ work will easily identify key elements from her stories, from Poirot’s ‘little grey cells’ to the intricate plotting of the game, and in the story’s satisfying, unexpected conclusion.”
Speaking of the plot…
Christie - who faced criticism that her works were formulaic as they were all bound to the murder mystery sub-genre - did favour a manor house murder and so, the game will see a young Poirot invited to a wealthy family's remote manor home where a snowstorm traps everyone inside and a murder takes place that requires players to connect the clues and solve the case.
Poirot’s popularity endures?
The character has been portrayed by an array of stars, including Albert Finney, Peter Ustinov and John Malkovich, although the most well-known is likely to be David Suchet's TV Poirot from 1989 to 2013. In 2017, Kenneth Branagh also played Poirot in Murder on the Orient Express, which he also directed. He will also direct and star in Death on the Nile, due for release next year, having been delayed by the pandemic.
As for Agatha…?
Her own popularity knows no bounds, with her more than 70 novels selling more than one billion copies in the English language and another billion internationally, making her the most successful author of all time. Another of her works, “Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?” is also in the works, with Hugh Laurie directing and starring, so the cases continue.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here